UITableViewCell dequeuereusablecellwithidentifier returns the same cell - ios

Question

I am creating a UITableView that enables the user to add a variable amount of data. Table looks like this initially:
When the user clicks on the "+" button, i would like to add a new cell with a UITextField for entering data. This new cell is a Custom UITableViewCell called "RecordValueCell". Here's what is looks like:
//Custom UITableViewCell
class RecordValueCell : UITableViewCell {
#IBOutlet weak var textField: UITextField!
#IBOutlet weak var deleteButton: UIButton!
var onButtonTapped : ((_ sender : UIButton)->Void)?
#IBAction func deleteButtonTouched(_ sender: Any) {
guard let senderButton = sender as? UIButton else {
return
}
onButtonTapped?(senderButton)
}
}
However when i try to add another cell, using the tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: ) function, it seems to return the same cell. And here is what my UI looks like:
Empty space at the top of the section where my new cell should be. Here is the code to add the cell:
func addNewValueCell() {
guard let reusableValueCell = self.tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "valueCell") as? RecordValueCell else {
fatalError("failed to get reusable cell valueCell")
}
var cell = Cell() //some custom cell Object
//add the gray horizontal line you see in the pictures
reusableValueCell.textField.addBorder(toSide: .Bottom, withColor: UIColor.gray.cgColor, andThickness: 0.5)
reusableValueCell.onButtonTapped = { (sender) in
self.removeValue(sender: sender)
}
cell.cell = reusableValueCell
self.sections[self.sections.count - 1].cells.insert(cell, at: 0)
//When i put a break point at this spot, i find that reusableValueCell is the same object as the cell that is already being used.
tableView.reloadData()
reusableValueCell.prepareForReuse()
}
When i debug it, i find that dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: ) returns the exact same RecordValueCell multiple times.
Here is my cellForRowAt:
override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
guard let cell = self.sections[indexPath.section].cells[indexPath.row].cell else {
fatalError("error getting cell")
}
return cell
}
numberOfRowsInSection
override func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
return self.sections[section].cells.count
}

Answer 1

First of all, you will need to set the View Controller Class that this table is contained in as the table's UITableViewDataSource
tableView.dataSource = self // view controller that contains the tableView
Create an array of strings as member of your View Controller class which contains the data for each cell:
var strings = [String]()
Then you will need to implement the following method for the UITableViewDataSource protocol:
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
return strings.count
}
You should also be dequeueing the cells in your cellForRowAt method like so:
func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: yourIdentifier) as! YourCellClass
cell.textLabel = strings[indexPath.row]
return cell
}
Then whenever the user enters into the textField, their input will be appended to this array:
let input = textField.text
strings.append(input)
tableView.reloadData()
Once the data is reloaded, the cell will be added to the table automatically since the number of rows are defined by the String array's length and the label is set in the cellForRowAt method.

Answer 2

This feature is very easy to implement if you will do in a good way.
First, you have to create two TableCell. First to give the option to add a record with plus button and second for entering a value with textfield. Now always return first cell (AddRecordTableCell) in the last row in tableView, and return the number of rows according to entered values like
return totalValues.count + 1